
2. As the result of today’s quick and easy access to information, many times invalid or misinterpreted information is conveyed without a second glance to the concern of the true accuracy of the gathered “facts”. People do not inspect the information they happen upon as closely as what is necessary, possibly because the word is written. Upon creating a context involving people, places and things, a sense of actuality is often taken too seriously even without multiple sources on the given subject to truly establish its validity. In the case of the character of Carson in McCaulays Motel of the Mysteries, a story is recited that is entertaining, but lacks the cultural context given its topics needed in order to be recognized as valid. To avoid such shaky territory one cannot simply rely on merely one source of information, especially from the Internet that spans such a wide web of “facts”. In order to create a valid argument, one must avoid the gaffe first by using multiple sources, moreover sources from all different mediums, including recognized books and journals, in addition to Internet research.
3. Protruding from the earth, the pyramids at Giza are massive stacks, which display the eternal life of the pharaohs Khufu, Kafre, and Menkaure. The massive scale, and visual solidity certainly demonstrate the onlooker the pharaohs’ highest rank in society, nearest of the statues of a god in Egyptian society. Rising high in verticality, these pyramids stand pointed to the heavens as to emphasize the pharaohs communication an connection with the God(s), Queen Hatshepsuts funerary temple takes on an entirely opposite approach to eternal life, laying amongst a mountain in great contrast to the tombs of the rulers before her; the pyramids that seem to penetrate the sky out of nowhere. The queen’s temple accentuates its horizontal components instead with opening aligning its front, adorned with a ramp protruding from its center. This is a sharp contrast to the pyramids that seemed to have no entrance, no deviation in form as to lessen the heaviness of the structure or welcome any onlookers. The idea that Queen Hatshepsut’s tomb is a more welcoming structure in part to its array of openings deviating the heaviness of its mass could quite possibly reflect her role as a woman in Egyptian culture as the opening s and ramp invite the viewer in awe, rather than strike their senses as the pyramids do from their impenetrable mass.


4. Although separated by the Mediterranean Sea along with a place in world history, Egyptian and Greek civilizations share many similarities that we can find in their design response, specifically in the construction of their sacred temples. As expected in different civilizations, the Egyptians and the Greeks formed entirely different cultures. We can see their cultural differing reflected in their building forms. In the words of Roth; “ The Greeks cared little for immortality on a spiritual plan, but rather, they sought to ensure their immortality in human memory, through their intellectual and artistic excellence”. In the essence of this quote, the Greeks couldn’t have been more contrasting in their values than the Egyptians, whose primary focus in life was the idea of the eternal afterlife. When analyzing the different temples produced by the separate cultures however, the Grecian Parthenon and Egyptian hypostyle hall, we can see some merging in architectural style. Looking at the plans of the tow buildings, the similarities appear at the center of the structures. Both temples include a post-lintel construction, but more importantly both the Hypothstyle hall and Parthenon include a set of parallel columns in their hearth, which lead up to a more enclosed, thus more spiritual area. Contrasting, the Hypothstyle hall includes many more columns actually encompassing the parallel set in its hearth. This aspect creates a much darker atmosphere coinciding to the differing religions of the two cultures, as the less lit of the two structures was built by the one which focused on the afterlife…a relatively dark subject. In comparison to the Grecian culture that worshipped the gods for whom hey believed to have allocated their blessings in life, the Parthenon only has two extra layers of columns filtering light from the centralized enclosure. This does not mean that this center was any less holy then that of the Hypothsyle hall, for in was supposed to lead up to a great statue of the goddess Athena who was adorned in gold. This greater amount of light was necessary in order to reflect on the statue, creating a gleaming and divine presence. As the Parthenon leads the worshipped to an enclosure of light, the Hypothsyle hall leads the worshipper to the darkest part. A last important element in this illustration is the idea of the enclosure, guarded by layers of columns. Each layer peels back a more private space cued by the columns creating a holier realm within each realm, in the case of the Parthenon a lighter space of worship, Hypothstyle hall having a darker sense of spirituality.


5. Egyptian culture kept the underlying theme of eternity throughout just about everything they left behind. In turn the pharaohs left their permanent mark on society. Thanks to this concept, we can observe the remnants of this “eternal” culture they left behind. As the pharaoh’s tomb was meant to last forever, the heavy structure consisted of what Napoleon deemed to be enough material in the three pyramids at Giza “to build a wall 3 meters high and 1 meter thick around the whole of France”. So why would the ideal of eternity not carry through as strongly in Egyptian furniture, which was constructed out of wood? Quite possibly they valued the structure more than its interior furnishings, aware that the structure would be the component of their existence that was truly eternal. One could also contemplate that the furniture was mainly meant for their time on earth and became more of an afterthought amongst the grand scale of the pyramids. The heaviness of the pyramids also maintains strength necessary to be apart of an exterior while less attention was devoted to the interior, as furnishings were less important than the enclosure itself in the afterlife.
6. Depicted on the two urns are two images portraying male dominance over women. Both of the urns show the male figure seated on a throne (maybe a king/god), while on one urn one woman and the other two women stand tending to the seated male. These illustrations certainly characterize a nurturing role of a woman and a more leadership centered role for the man. These reflections of a male dominated society can be supported as Harwood notes that males possess ownership and independence as he notes that women in Grecian culture are “their fathers or husbands property”. To delve deeper into Grecian culture these urns surely support Harwood’s claims along with contributing another piece of evidence that the Greek culture was a male dominated one.


great writing, through and through. man, can you ever fashion a terrific topic sentence! on your response to #5, about lightweight furniture, what about the function of carrying the furniture in and moving it around, or taking it on one's afterlife?
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